Chapter 4 - The Song
Lorenzo remembered fragments.
Not the crash.
Not yet.
But enough.
Three days before someone rammed his SUV, Uncle Carlo visited him at the Moretti offices.
He claimed Daniel was alive.
Lorenzo thought it was manipulation.
Then Carlo played an audio recording.
A woman singing “You Are My Sunshine.”
A little girl laughing.
Carlo said the child was Daniel’s daughter.
He offered Lorenzo a deal.
Find Daniel.
Bring him back.
Or Carlo would find the woman and child first.
Lorenzo refused.
Instead, he quietly ordered Marco to locate us.
Before Marco succeeded, Lorenzo’s SUV was hit.
“Why would Carlo attack Lorenzo?” I asked.
Daniel paced the estate library.
“Because Lorenzo wouldn’t cooperate.”
Isabella stood near the fireplace.
“And because Lorenzo had started auditing the ports.”
Daniel nodded.
“He was getting too close.”
I looked toward the upstairs ceiling.
Lorenzo was awake intermittently.
His doctors allowed no visitors besides immediate family.
Mia asked about the “sleeping man” six times.
I kept saying later.
Daniel and I remained at the estate under protection.
Not because I trusted the Morettis.
Because someone had targeted me.
The FBI became involved after Daniel turned over partial records.
Not all.
He still kept one piece hidden.
That irritated me.
“You want protection while withholding evidence?”
“I’m protecting leverage.”
“Against whom?”
“Everyone.”
“Including me?”
Daniel did not answer.
There was the problem.
He loved us.
Maybe.
But Moretti men had been taught love and control were the same thing.
Lorenzo was apparently no different.
When doctors finally allowed Mia into his room, I went with her.
She carried Mr. Buttons.
Lorenzo was awake.
He looked stronger than before but still pale.
His bed was elevated.
The ventilator was gone.
Oxygen rested beneath his nose.
Mia stopped at the doorway.
“You woke up.”
The corner of Lorenzo’s mouth moved.
“So I did.”
“You missed my song.”
“I heard some of it.”
She walked closer.
“Did it work?”
Lorenzo looked toward me.
“I think it did.”
Mia smiled proudly.
I remained tense.
She placed Mr. Buttons beside him.
“For when you sleep.”
Lorenzo touched the rabbit.
“Thank you.”
Then Mia began humming.
His monitor changed.
Again.
Not dramatic.
But his heart rate increased.
Lorenzo noticed my expression.
“She reminds me of Sofia.”
I stiffened.
“Why?”
“Not her face.”
He looked at Mia.
“The way she walks into rooms like she belongs there.”
Mia was arranging his blankets without permission.
Fair.
“Who was Sofia?”
“My wife.”
“I know that.”
Lorenzo’s expression darkened.
“She was brave.”
“Daniel says she found evidence.”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t believe her?”
His eyes shifted toward the window.
“I believed enough to argue.”
“What does that mean?”
“I told her to let me handle it.”
“And did you?”
“No.”
There it was.
No excuses.
“Sofia wanted to go to federal authorities. I told her family problems stayed inside the family.”
“How did that work out?”
His eyes returned to mine.
“It killed her.”
The answer disarmed me.
Not because he was absolved.
Because he knew he was not.
Mia tugged Lorenzo’s fingers.
“Why are you sad?”
He looked down.
“I made mistakes.”
“Say sorry.”
Children.
Lorenzo almost smiled.
“To who?”
“Everybody.”
I laughed before I could stop myself.
Lorenzo did too.
Then a memory hit him.
His face changed.
Monitor accelerated.
Elena stepped forward.
“Lorenzo?”
He raised one hand.
“Wait.”
His eyes closed.
“Car.”
“What?”
“The crash.”
Isabella moved closer.
“What do you remember?”
“Driver said brakes.”
“Brakes?”
“He shouted brakes were gone.”
Marco entered.
“That doesn’t match the collision report.”
Lorenzo’s eyes opened.
“Because we weren’t hit first.”
Silence.
He remembered the SUV losing braking power before another vehicle struck it.
Sabotage.
Then impact.
Rolling.
Smoke.
His driver, Anthony, dead beside him.
A man opening the passenger door.
Not rescuing.
Searching.
“For what?” Daniel asked.
Lorenzo looked at him.
“You.”
Daniel froze.
“He kept asking where the drive was.”
Everyone looked at Daniel.
I crossed my arms.
“What drive?”
Daniel said nothing.
I laughed bitterly.
“Of course.”
“Clara.”
“No. Tell them.”
Daniel looked trapped.
Finally:
“The complete shipping ledger.”
“Where is it?”
He glanced at Mia.
My blood went cold.
“No.”
Daniel’s silence confirmed it.
“Where?”
“Mia’s rabbit.”
I turned slowly toward Mr. Buttons.
The gray stuffed rabbit sitting beside Lorenzo.
“You hid criminal evidence in our daughter’s toy?”
“It was the safest place.”
I slapped him.
Hard.
Nobody stopped me.
Mia gasped.
I immediately regretted doing it in front of her.
“Mommy!”
“I’m sorry.”
Daniel touched his cheek.
“I deserved that.”
“Yes.”
Lorenzo looked furious.
“You put the ledger with a child?”
“It’s encrypted.”
“That’s not the point.”
Interesting.
The mafia boss lecturing his brother about safety.
Daniel reached for Mr. Buttons.
Mia grabbed the rabbit first.
“No.”
“Mia, sweetheart—”
“No. Bunny.”
Daniel looked at me.
I knelt.
“Mia, Daddy—”
The word came out before I could stop it.
Everyone froze.
Mia stared at Daniel.
“Daddy?”
Oh, God.
Daniel stopped breathing.
I closed my eyes.
Not how I planned it.
Mia looked at him again.
“You’re my daddy?”
Daniel lowered himself to his knees.
“If your mommy says it’s okay for me to say yes.”
She looked at me.
I nodded.
Mia considered this enormous information.
Then handed him the rabbit.
“You can hug Bunny now.”
Daniel cried.
Again.
He hugged the toy.
Marco opened the stitching carefully.
Inside was a tiny sealed memory drive.
Daniel handed it to federal agents that afternoon.
The files were worse than expected.
Counterfeit chemotherapy.
Bribed hospital procurement officers.
Fake charities.
Deaths hidden through settlements.
Carlo Moretti’s signature appeared repeatedly.
But another signature appeared too.
Someone inside Lorenzo’s own household.
Initials:
I.M.
Everyone looked at Isabella.
She stared at the document.
“No.”
Lorenzo’s face hardened.
“Mom.”
“I never signed this.”
Daniel whispered:
“Then who did?”
Isabella looked at the initials again.
Her eyes widened.
“There’s another I.M.”
“Who?”
She looked toward the family portrait hanging above the fireplace.
Vittorio Moretti stood beside his younger sister.
Irene Moretti.
Lorenzo’s aunt.
May you like
The woman who had managed Moretti Foundation Medical Programs for twenty years.
And who had arrived at the estate that morning carrying flowers for Lorenzo.
